Piling and handling of metal bars



Aug. 27, 1929. .1. R. GEORGE ET ALF" 1,726,220

FILING AND HANDLING OF METAL: BARS Filed Feb. 2, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Aug. 27,1929. J. R. GEORGE ET AL 1,726,220

FILING AND HANDLING OF METAL BARS Filed Feb. 2, 1928 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Q ea l Patented Aug. 27, 19 29.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JEROME R. GEORGE AND EDWARD J. QUINN, 0F WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, AS-

SIGNORS TO MORGAN CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, OF WORCESTER,MASSACHUSETTS,

A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

FILING AND nnnnnme OFYMETAL BARS.

Application filed February 2, 1928. Serial No. 251,334.

The present invention relates to the piling of metal bars, particularly those of wide flat cross section, in piles or packs, and to the handling and weighing of such bars in packed or piledarrangement, in connection with the movement of the pile-receiving apparatus into and out of piling-position. The several features and advantages of the invention will appear from the following detailed description thereof, reference being had in this connection to the accompanying drawings, in which- 1 Fig. 1 is a plan view of apparatus in which the invention is embodied.

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view, on a larger scale, of said apparatus, the section being taken on the line 2- -2 of Fig. 1. i

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view, illustrating I a detail of the construction of the apparatus.

Like reference characters refer to like parts in the different figures.

Referring first to Fig. 1, there isillustrated conventionally at 1 the usual piling rolls, which are so placed as to receive, flatwise, successive elongated pieces of rolled stock of relatively thin wide section from the runout of a rolling mill, not shown;

Said piling rolls 1 are arranged, in the usual manner, at a level well above any support afforded for the stock beyond said rolls, in consequence of which each piece, as it is delivered, falls by gravity toward such support and piles up on the pieces previously delivered, means being provided, as hereinafter described, to keep the pieces in an orderly pack or pile.

As best shown in Fig. 2, the underlying structure of the pile receiving and supporting devices, hereinafter described, is a suitable elongated foundation or base section 2, of masonry or the like, which extends longi tudinally in the direction of delivery from the piling rolls 1.' On either side :of the base section 2 are the open pits 3 and 4, for a purpose to be hereinafter described, and

r a pair of rails 5, 5, suitably spaced, are laid transversely on the base section 2, and aline with similar rail sections 6, 6 and 7, 7, the former supported in overlying relation to the pit 3 and the latter in the same relation to the pit 4.

The invention contemplates duplicate pilereceiving devices, with provision for alternately moving them 1nto operative relation rolls 1.

ment by means of a to tl 1e rolls 1, in which relation the pile-receiving device is supported for its entire length on the rails 5, 5 of base section 2,

and is thus in the line of delivery from said The two pile-receiving devices being of the same construction, a description of one will suffice for both; as shown in Fig. 2, a truck 8, having a pair of wheels 9, 9 on each side to run on the alined transverse rail sections 5, 6 and 7, supports a pair of elongated beams 10, 10, running at right angles to said rail sections, and these beams.

of the bin or cradle in which the bars delivered by the rolls 1, 11 are piled up, one upon the other.

From each plate 11 rises a pair of posts 12, 13, for the pivotal mounting thereon of wing members 14 and 15, which constitute the sidewalls of the pile-receiving bin or cradle. Each wing member 14 is adjustable angularly .aboutits pivot post 12, and may be fixed in any desired position of adjustpin adapted to engage wlth any one of a series of holes 16 in plate 11. Each wing member 15has an arm 17,

to which is pivotally secured a rod 18; said rod 18 passes through a lug 19 on a bracket 20, secured to plate 11. Said rod 18 carries on one side of said lug 19 a stop or shoulder 21, and on the other side, a compression spring 22. The spring 22 normally "maintains the stop 21 against the. lug 19, thus fixing the position occupied by the wing member 15, but allowing said wing member to yield, as needed, for the passage of successive bars projected outwardly from the rolls 1. The position of bracket 20 is made adjustable on the plate 11 by means of a suitable pin engageable with any one of a'series of. holes 23, and thus the wing member 15, like the wing member 14, can

be set in any'position desired, so as to accom-:

modate, and closely confine, piled bars of various widths; this adjustment of member 15, by-means of bracket'20, can be effected without changing the operating pressure of the spring 22, such pressureremaining constant in all positions of adjustment.

Referring now to Fig. 2, let it be assumed, as shown, that the right hand pile-receiving device, designated as a whole by the letter A, is in bar-receiving position, its truck 8 being wholly supported on the rail sections 5, 5, and its wing members 1% and 15 being adjusted angularly to the width of the stock that is being delivered by the rolls 1. Under these conditions, the other receiving device, designated B, and an exact duplicate of device A, is disposed over the pit 3, with the wheels of its truck supported on the rail sections 6, 6; the two trucks 8, 3 are connected, as shown in 3, by a link 24, pivotally secured at each end to lugs 25, 25 of said trucks. In order to give the utmost flexibility to this connection, the pivotal points for the link 24: are made as far apart as possible. Said link 24 spaces the trucks apart by a distance which is one-half the distance between the pits 3 and 4.

Under the conditions aboveassumed, each piece of stock projected flatwise at high speed from the rolls 1, is piled up in the usual way in cradle or bin A on the pieces preceding it, all .said pieces having their forward movement arrested by engagement of their front ends with a suitable spring bumper device 26 carried by the beams 10, 10. The construction of this bumper de vice forms no part of the present invention, and hence need not be particularly described; it is suflicient to note that a bumper 26 is provided for each of the two bins or cradles A and B. Upon the filling of bin or cradle A by the completion of a pack or pile of bars therein, provision is made for immediately. shifting the empty bin or cradle B into line with the rolls 1, thereby to allow the piling operation to go on uninterruptedly. As already described, the two trucks 8, 8 are connected together by the link 24-, and their movement in unison on the rail sections 5, 6 and 7 is secured in suitable manner, as by a pair of parallel. crank arms 27, 27, each pivotally connected at 28 to the truck B, and at 29 to a suitably journalled crank disk 30. The two crank disks 30 are driven in unison through. suitable bevel gearing 31, 31 from a shaft 32, the latter, whenever movement of the trucks 8, 8 is required, being actuated through reduced speed gearing 33 from a suitable source of power, such as a motor 34.

Assuming the completion of a pack or pile of bars in the bin or cradle A, the motor 3&- is thereupon immediately started, and con tinues to operate until the crank disks 30 have made a one-half revolution; this shifts the completed pack or pile in cradle A,from

the fact that the rail sections '7, 7, which now support the cradle A, are themselves supported wholly independently of the rail sections 5, 5; as here shown, beams 35, 35., locatedin the pits 3, 4-, respectively, are arranged for limited up and down movement, being associated with suitable weighing devices 36 in each pit, whereby theweight of the structures carried either on the rail sections 6, 6, or the rail sections 7, '7, may be ascertained. Said beams 35, 35 support the rails 6, 6 and 'Z', 7 respectively, and said beams, at a suitable point in their lengths, are held by hangers 37, 37, whereby their deflection, under the weight of the superposed cradle or bin, is communicated to a suitable balance beam 38 that indicates, in any suitable way, the weight carried. This indicated weight is unaffected by the other truck 8 which, at this time is on the rail sections 5, 5; although the two trucks are connected, the links 24, 24, which form the connections, are pivoted at both ends, and are thus free to turn, so that one truck and its superposed piling bin or cradle can be weighed entirely independently of the other one. v

After Weighing, as above described, the completed pack or pile of bars in the bin or cradle A can be removed as a unit in the ordinary manner, by the use of a plurality of crane hooks, not shown, which are entered beneath the pack or pile through the spaces that se arate the row of plates 11, 11; these hooks lift the pack or p1le of bars bodily out of the cradle or bin, and deposit said 2 pack wherever desired, without disturbing motor 34, is operated to give the crank disks 30 another one half revolution, returning them to the original position shown in Fig. 1; this shifts the full cradle or bin B. onto the rail sections 6, 6, overlying pit 3, for weighing and for removal of the completed pack, and simultaneously brings the empty cradle A onto rail sections 5, 5, lining up said cradle, for refilling, with the delivery of barsfrom the rolls 1.

The alternate disposal of the binsA and B in bar-receiving position can be continued indefinitely, in the manner above described, thereby avoiding any interruption whatsoever to the piling operation. By the present method, plenty of time is given for careful pack removal and for weighing the pack as an incident to said removal, instead of having to ascertain its weight by an independent weighing operation before finally setting it down on the cooling bed or other receiving" device. I

We claim,

1. In apparatus ofthe class described, the combination with means for longitudinally delivering a succession of metal bars, of a pair of bins each adapted to receive a pile of said bars, a support in theline of delivery of said bars, means for periodically shifting said pair of bins, transversely of said support, to dispose first one and then the other of said bins in bar-receiving position on said support, a pair of weighing pits one on each side of said support, and means associated with each pit for sustaining, independently of said support, the weight of the filled bin that overlies said pit when the other bin is shifted into bar-receiving position, thereby to permit said filled bin to be weighed.

2. In apparatus of the class described, a pair of parallel pile-receiving devices adapted to be alternately disposed in pilereceiving position, and a transverselink coupling the two devices together to secure their movement in unison, saidlink making a pivotal connection with'eaoh device at a point farthest removed transversely from the other device, whereby one 01": said devices may be stationarily supported in pilereceiving position while the other may be yieldingly supported for purposes of weighing.

3. In apparatus of the class described, a pair of parallel pile-receiving devices adapted to be alternately disposed in pile-receiving position, a pair of weighing pits, one on each side of the pile-receiving position of said devices, a coupling means to secure the movements of said devices in unison, whereby as one is moved into pileereceiving position, the other is moved over a weighing pit and means associated with the weighing pit to sustain the weight of the filled pile-receiving device, independently of the other pilereceiving device that is then disposed in pile-receiving position.

4. In apparatus of the class described, a pair of parallel pile-receiving devices adapted to be alternately disposed in pile-receiving position, a pair of weighing pits, one on each side of the pile-receiving position of said devices, and a coupling means to secure the movements of said devices in unison, whereby as one is moved into pile-receiving position, the other is moved over a weighing pit, said coupling means spacing said devices by a distance which is suflicient to prevent any binding on the device that is being weighed.

5. In apparatus of the class described, a pair of parallel pile-receiving devices, means for moving said devices transversely in unison to dispose first one and then the other in pile-receiving position, and guiding means to constrain said transverse movements, said guiding means being stationarily supported in said pile-receiving position, and on opposite sides thereof being supported independently to sustain the weight of said devices, to permit each of the latter to be weighed when out of pile-receivingposition.

6. In apparatus of the class described, a pair of parallel pile-receiving devices, means for moving saiddevices transversely in unison to dispose first one and then the other in pile-receiving position, and guiding means to constrain said transverse movements, said guiding means having a rigid support in said pile-receiving position, to take the thrust of the piling operation, and on opposite sides thereof being yieldingly supported, to permit weighing of said devices when out of pile-receiving position.

JEROME R. GEORGE. EDWARD J. QUINN. 

